


One final coffee

by OfMelancholia



Series: Detective Reed [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-04 02:54:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16338461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfMelancholia/pseuds/OfMelancholia
Summary: ❝Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.❞ ━━ Detective Gavin Reed has always struggled with his emotions. It becomes worse when an android is assigned to be his partner. And even more worse when said partner dies.





	One final coffee

     "Yo, Reed. I heard your plastic friend ate a bullet yesterday."  
  
A bullet. A single projectile made of lead is all it took for the machine to go down, to fall to its knees and die. He still remembers the waterfall of Thirium welling out of the hole in his forehead, staining Gavin's fingers in the process when he was trying to somehow make it stop. There hasn't been a single emotion distorting the android's features, steel gray eyes lost the sparkle the Detective believed to have witnessed developing; he was just ━━ gone.  
  
And all because he's been unable to pull the trigger first, to determine whether or not he wanted to sacrifice the RK900 in order to catch the deviant. Hell, he didn't think it'd be that difficult to decide, considering the fact that Gavin despises those plastic bitches, but somehow Richart has managed to gain his trust, to make him forget that underneath the oh so convincing skin is hiding nothing but machinery.  
  
     "Detective."  
  
The voice suddenly reaching his ears from seemingly far away sounds familiar, causing him to snap out of his thoughts and focus on the cup of coffee that finds its place right before him atop the desk. He's staring at it, body frozen to the chair he's sitting on before eventually his gaze is averted to the person having positioned themself beside him.  
  
The white and black pattern of the jacket comes into sight first, graced by spots of blue presented by the small triangle on the chest and the sash like accessory curled around his upper right arm. RK900 is written on the fabric, perfectly visible and just as eye-catching as before, and upon allowing his eyes to wander, he soon comes face to face with the thought to be dead robot.  
  
     "━you gotta be kidding me.", Gavin mutters under his breath, already pale features losing color while at the same time brows are knitted together in a frown.  
  
     "Is there something wrong with your coffee, Detective?", the android inquires, palms connected with one another at the small of his back, posture straight and stiff, features void of any emotion. It's as though nothing has happened at all. As if the other didn't die right in front of him, didn't catch a bullet to his brain, and seemingly glared at Reed for not having reacted the way he should have for as long as his systems were still active. Gavin has witnessed the light disappear from his eyes, has seen the LED blinking crimson before fading to black.  
  
This is wrong. On so many levels.  
  
Without even thinking about accepting the coffee, he straightens to full height and brushes past the robot, shoulders barely touching in the process. Quick feet drag him over to the restrooms where he vanishes behind the door, almost tempted to forcefully throw it shut behind him.  
  
He's been teased and made fun of the entirety of the morning; it would cost him a fortune to pay for the android's repairs, that he shouldn't care since it's  _just_ a machine, and whereas he would have agreed a month ago, things have changed. Gavin has grown used to Richart's face, his presence around him most of the time, and though there still have been issues regarding their partnership, they were complementing each other as a team. Eventually the Detective even began to _care_ , treating him like an actual human being.  
  
And then he died.  
  
Palms are pinned flat against the smooth surface surrounding the many sinks, eyes skipping to the mirror before him through which he stares at himself. Due to not having slept the previous night, dark circles have developed under his eyes; he looks tired, exhausted, ready to punch someone in the face if they just kept pushing.  
  
When the door to the restroom opens once more, his attention is dragged over to the android now revealing himself, stepping in and remaining to linger by the entrance.  
  
     "Detective, are you feeling alright?", he asks, voice smooth and gentle, but Gavin knows better than to search for hints of emotion in it. He doesn't answer, merely glares at the unharmed figure of his partner ━ an image of perfection, skin clean and free of blue blood, clothes unstained, making him appear as good as new. And that's the thing, isn't it? The body, it's a new one, freshly activated while his predecessor most likely has been trashed. "I understand that it might be difficult for you to━━"  
  
     "Shut up, dipshit!", Gavin interrupts him, raising his voice for the second time today and noticing how hoarse it really sounds. "You don't understand anything." Pushing himself away from the sinks, he turns in order to face the male properly. "Yeah, you might be a smartass with your fucking brainpower, you might be able to be better at my job than me, but you don't  _understand_ anything."  
  
     "Detective Reed━"  
  
     "I said shut up, Richart!", he repeats, inching closer now to the android that doesn't flinch, doesn't seem fazed by the volume of the Detective's voice or his actions. The only thing that might make evident that there is something going on within him is the LED now circling yellow. "You see, in my world, people don't just come back when they die. They're gone forever and we humans have to live with it, deal with it. But here you are, pretending that nothing happened ━━ pretending that I didn't drag your dead ass out of that warehouse before they took you away to fucking salvage what was left of you!"  
  
The longer he talks, the more aggravated he becomes, apparently releasing the anger and frustration having been boiling somewhere in the pits of his stomach ever since seeing his partner being gunned down, and maybe there's even a certain kind of grief accompanying each letter skipping off the tip of his tongue that he would never admit to feel.  
  
     "I saw you fucking die." The tip of his index is pierced into the other's chest, making him well aware of the fact that the simple gesture would do nothing at all, would not even be felt.  
  
     "Your ━━ concern is appreciated, Detective, but there is no need for it.", Richart then retorts, the LED still flickering from its tranquil blue to yellow and back. "I'm a machine. The damage that has been inflicted to my previous body should not prompt you to lose focus on our investigation. It was a minor setback that has been fixed."  
  
     "You fucking prick!", Gavin exclaims, attempting to push the male away from him and even succeeding in making him take a step back. "Did you even feel anything when the bullet hit you? Were you _scared_? Did you feel pain?"  
  
Those questions echo throughout the room, linger in the air without being replied to for a couple of seconds before the human adds a command.  
  
     "Answer me!"  
  
Richart permits his gaze to drop to the tiled floor beneath him for a moment or two, making it seem as though he truly is thinking about what to say and maybe even how to defuse such an inconvenient situation. Eventually, however, he looks up again, brows being furrowed slightly.  
  
     "No. I didn't feel anything.", he says, palms wandering to smooth down the fabric of his jacket despite it having been perfectly fine before. "My programming doesn't allow me to feel. Emotions compromise the mission and━"  
  
     "Would you feel something if I died?"  
  
Once again the android falls silent at that, and he remains quiet, most likely to not upset the Detective with the answer that would follow if he opened his mouth.  
  
Gavin snorts, a humorless smile curving up in the corners of his lips as he takes a step back, and there's resentment to see in the gray colored eyes of his; an emotion that has been eased during the past couple of weeks but now seems to have returned upon being reminded of the reason why he despises those machines so much.  
  
     "You don't care. You're unable to care, and that's not your fault but ━━ I don't want that." Albeit his voice having dropped in volume, the way it becomes audible is harsh, final. "I don't want to see you die over and over again just because you can come back the next day. Yeah, you're a fucking machine, you're designed to do shit, but I'm not. CyberLife can go fuck themselves if they think anyone would be okay with that. ━━ It's _not_ okay."  
  
     "Gavin, are you━━"  
  
     "Don't you dare 'Gavin' me, dipshit.", he snarls in response before Richart is even able to form a whole sentence, and it's then that his eyes start burning, his vision becoming blurred for merely a fraction of a second until he blinks away the tears. "I can't work with a thing like you. I don't  _want_ to."  
  
And with that he veers around, unable to stand the emotionless expression of the android any longer, soon disappearing out of the restroom.  
  
He knew from the very beginning that machines can be replaced and that one day he'd be confronted with another RK900 model, and though the thought has continued to linger in the back of his mind, Richart has become more and more human to him. Because, aside from work, they did spend time together, shared moments, had conversations, becoming something _more_ than just android and human. And when Richart died, a part of him believed that those moments are gone, too, leaving him with nothing but the loss of someone more than just a partner.  
  
Leaving him as the only one who  _cares_.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading!


End file.
